Improved clothes-washing machine



UNITED STATES PATENT DFEICE.

MELOHOR MELLINGEE, OE DAYTON, OHIO. l

IMPROVED CLOTHES-WASHING MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,162, dated August 12, 1862.

To all whom, it 11a/ay concern:

Be it known that I, MELOHOR MELLINGER, of Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Clothes-Washing Machine; and'I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichy Figure l is a side sectional view of my invention taken in the line xx, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a plan or top View of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures. f

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the suds-box, of quadrilateral form, and having at its back end an inclined corrugated board, B. The bottom C of the suds-box is covered with a piece of zinc, D, or other suitable metal, the front part of which is curved,as shown at a,theback part,b,being a plane surface, as shown clearly in Fig. l.

Eis a lever, which is attached by a joint or hinge, c, to the front end of the suds-box A, and F is a plunger, the face-side of which is corrugated, as shown at d. This plunger is connected by a stirrup, G, with the lever E, and it is also connected to the front part of the suds-box A by two arms,e e,the front ends of which are fitted loosely in eyes or sockets f f on the sudsboX. (See Fig. 2.) By working the lever E up and down a cuvilinear upward and downward movement is imparted to the plunger F, and the curved part a of the zinc D conforms to the path of the movement of the lower end of the plunger. H is what I term a press-brace,77 which is composed of two parts, g and h. The part g is stationary or permanently secured in the lower part of the suds-box A, and the upper part, h, is connected to g by joints or hinges t'. The pressboard H and plunger F are parallel with each other, and in the back part of the press-board a dovetail recess, j, is made, in which aslide, k, is itted. Said slide has a rod, I, fitted in its upper end, which is connected to the lever E by a link or hook, J, the latter being fitted in any of a series of holes made in a plate, K, attached to the lever.

L is a rod, the ends of which are secured permanently in the front part of the suds-box A. This rod L is bent or curved so as to form a straight portion, Z, having a transverse portion at the upper part of the suds-box.

Mis arod bent so as to form three sides of a square. .The ends of the rod M are bent to form journals m m, which are tted in eyes n nin the top of the suds-box, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The front part of the rod M acts on the straight part Z of the said rod L.

The operation is as follows: The suds-box A is supplied with a requisite quantity of suds, and the clothes to be acted upon or washed are placed betwee'n the plunger F and press-board H. The lever E is then moved up and down by the operator, and the plunger F is moved up and down curvilinearly toward and from the lower part, g, of the press-board H, and a vibrating or rocking motion is imparted to the upper part, h, of the press-board in conse' quenee of its connection to the lever E, as set forth. The upper part, h, of the press-board works simultaneously with the plunger F, the former approaching the latter as the lever E descends,and moving backward from it as the lever ascends. Hence it will be seen that the clothes are compressed between the plunger and press-board,both at their upper and lower ends, and are acted upon in the most eiicient manner. The Operation of the press-board H also causes the clothes to be turned, so that a new surface is acted upon at each descent of the lever E. This result is due to the upper part, h, of the lever pressing the clothes when in an inclined position, so that the latter will turn as the plunger F rises.

In consequence of having the bottom zine plate, D, of curved and straight form, as described, the water is allowed t'o return freely v underneath the plunger F to the clothes as the plunger ascends, for a considerable space is allowed between the straight part b of the zinc bottom or plate D and the bottom of the plunger F as the latter rises. By adjusting the hook .I in the plate K nearer to or farther from the press-board H the space between the press-board and plunger may be adapted fora greater or less number of clothes, as may be desired.

In order to wring the clothes, the hook J is detached from the plate K and the slide lc with- Y drawn from the press-board H, so as to admit of the plunger F being raised upward out of The'slide 7c, tted in the press-board H, and having the eonneeting-rod I attachedfor the purpose ofadmtting of the removal ofthe con.

meeting-rod I and hook` J, for the adjustment of the plunger F, out of the sudsbox, as described.

MELGHOR MELLINGER.

W'itnesses:

JOHN N. MoREHoUsE, JOHN HINsEY. 

